How to Extend SIM Validity Without Recharge – Airtel, Vodafone & Idea

Those days are gone when we used to have lifetime validity on our number. Now it is necessary to do minimum recharges every month in order to keep our number activated. Till a few days back, our sim cards were showing the validity of up to 2037 and now, out of sudden, we are asked to recharges every 28 days to extend sim validity.

If we don’t maintain the minimum balance then we are going to lose our number. This is the case with all major operators, Airtel, Idea & Vodafone to be specific. Now in this post, we will see if we can get free validity extension without any recharge.

How It Was Initially:

Initially, when they introduced this usage policy, the user would have to do a minimum recharge of Rs.35 every month which will give them 28-day outgoing call validity and some talk time balance (₹26-35) with unlimited validity. And if they don’t do the minimum recharge, their outgoing will be immediately barred and they have to recharge with a minimum pack.

Now if the customer still doesn’t do recharge with a minimum pack then after 15 days your incoming call will be barred. And after a few days, the number will be deactivated.

Update From TRAI On 30th November:

Now after getting lots of complaints from users, TRAI directs these mobile operators to not to disconnect the number until the user has the sufficient balance the account.

This is what it means:

#1) If your sim has a balance equal to minimum recharge amount (Usually Rs.35) then your number won’t be disconnected and you will continue to receive calls and SMS without any further recharge.

#2) You can also make calls from your existing balance as long as it is above the minimum recharge value.

#3) Minimum recharge amount is reduced to Rs.23-25 and can be activated from existing prepaid balance but it will only give you the validity of 28 days, no talk time benefits. (You can check latest plans on iReff)

#4) Your number will be active for 30 days from your last call or SMS, you can make 1 call every 30 days to avoid disconnection.

#5) If you don’t make any call for 30 days but still have more balance than minimum recharge pack in your prepaid account then your number will not be deactivated.

Instead, they will be able to deduct the minimum recharge amount from your account balance.

Now if you have lots of balance like Rs.250 in your prepaid account and you don’t do any calls using that number for a long time, the service provider will deduct an amount equal to minimum recharge pack every 30 days.

The minimum pack starts from Rs.23-25 which means your sim will be active for the next 10 months without any recharge. Your service provider will keep deducting the minimum balance from your account & for example, a Rs.250 balance will be enough for up to 10 months.

Some users have reported that when they sent a message to port out and got a call from the service provider, they asked to extend sim validity. Some of the users said that it worked for them and their validity was extended for a few days without doing any recharge. You can so try this out to see if you are lucky enough to get validity extension without any recharge.

You simply have to send an SMS to 1900 in the following format: PORT<space>NUMBER

Let me know in the comments below if this trick works for you.

#2. Port Out to BSNL or Jio:

As a new customer, you get a lot of benefits. If you don’t want to recharge with a minimum amount every month then you should think to port out to any other operator.

BSNL & Jio can be the best option for such users as there’s no such condition for users. You still have to do recharges but not every month. Jio’s prime membership costs just Rs.99 and is valid for an entire year.

On the other side, BSNL has a lot of Validity plans to start with. Initially, when you get your new sim card you don’t have to do recharge with anything extra as it already comes with 6-12 month validity for new users.

Once 6 months are over you can do a validity recharge on your BSNL Number. You can do validity recharge from your prepaid balance as well.

BSNL has very cheap plans to extend sim validity. For example, Rs.35 validity pack gives you 6-month validity, 1 GB of data for 7 days and Rs.30 talk time which has lifetime validity. So considering this BSNL seems to be the best choice for most of the users as Jio is 4G only network so Jio is not gonna work for those users whose phone doesn’t support 4G.

If you are a smartphone user then you can keep one primary sim of any operator which you are going to recharge every month. And you can use BSNL or Jio as a secondary sim card for emergency purposes.

Keep in note that as of now, most smartphones don’t support dual 4G standby. So make sure if you are going to get Jio sim then you have to use it as primary sim (for internet access) or otherwise it won’t get any signals.

You can get any sim if you are sure that your phone supports dual 4G standby.

#3) Activate Validity Extention Pack From Your Prepaid Balance:

You can also activate the validity extension pack from your existing prepaid balance. Current plans start from 23-25 INR and give you the validity of 28 days. You can keep activating these packs from your balance and can continue to use services like you are doing now.

You can do this for as long as you have balance in your prepaid account balance. But when you have no balance in your account, you will have to do recharges.

If you don’t activate validity pack despite having sufficient balance, your service provider can deduct balance and activate minimum pack on your behalf.

So these were the possible options to extend sim validity without any further recharge. Do let me know if you have a better option, suggestion or trick to do the validity extension without paying anything extra.

Hitesh Rawat is the founder of Dealgyan. Read his blogs to get money-saving tips & online shopping deals along with unbiased product reviews. It will help you buy the best product at the cheapest price possible for your needs.